Heart of the ocean? - The story of Kate Florence Phillips by Jake Billingham & Joanna Dolan

The final of four entries of our guest blogger Jake Billingham once again teams up with Joanna Dolan to bring us the story of Titanic survivor Kate Phillips.

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Anyone who is fascinated with the story of RMS Titanic, knows the scandal that surrounded some of her most famous passengers.  One of these infamous couples was the billionaire and his wife, John Jacob Astor and Madeleine Astor.  However, they weren’t the only passengers that boarded the ship on her fateful maiden voyage who were also engaged in a scandalous relationship. 

Another couple that is not so well known, boarded Titanic as second class passengers in Southampton under the married name of Mr. and Mrs. Marshall, but they were not married.  The couple’s great-granddaughter, Beverley Lynn Roberts, believes that James Cameron may have based part of the epic love story in his 1997 blockbuster Titanic movie on facts from her the lives of her great-grandparents.

Photo of Kate Phillips with her Daughter Ellen Mary

Photo Credit Beverley Lynn Roberts Kate Phillips Great Granddaughter

In fact, they were deeply in love and  having a secret affair.  Henry Samuel Morley was a married man, and he was also the senior partner of the firm L. Morley Confectioners.  Kate Phillips was a 19 year old unmarried shop assistant of Mr Morley’s enterprise.  Mr. Morley was at least 20 years older than his young, beautiful employee, Miss. Phillips. Henry sold two of his confectionary shops to make provisions for his wife and 12 year old daughter, and booked passage on Titanic to start a new life  with Miss Phillips in America.   It is said that Henry had a beautiful diamond encrusted sapphire necklace made for Kate and that he gave it to her while they were on board Titanic sailing towards their future together.

Photo Credit Beverley Lynn Roberts 

Tragically, just like the famous 1997 James Cameron movie Titanic , the relationship between Henry & Kate would be cut short.  When on April 14, 1912, the unthinkable happened as Titanic struck an iceberg at 11:40 pm.  Two hours and 40 minutes later, the “unsinkable” Titanic plunged to the bottom of the North Atlantic, taking with her 1,496 of her passengers and crew,  including Mr. Henry Samuel Morley, whose body was never recovered.  It is said that Henry fastened the sapphire and diamond necklace around Kate’s neck just prior to seeing her into a lifeboat. Kate Phillips survived the sinking, and she sat in lifeboat number 11  for close to eight hours with only her nightgown and a jacket of a crew member to keep her warm on that cold night. She carried with her a small hand bag and the keys to her trunk. However, she may have also been carrying something else even more valuable than the bejeweled necklace.

Artists recreation of Kate Phillips & Henry Morley

Photo Credit Jorge Martinez Arias

Kate Phillips’s purse and luggage keys that she carried with her into the lifeboat.

Photo credit Beverley Lynn Roberts

After three months living in America, Kate returned to England and to her family in Worcester.  It is believed that the relationship with Henry Morley resulted in her giving birth to a baby girl on January 11, 1913 .  Although, this was never officially proven, and no father was ever named on her daughter’s birth certificate.  Kate named the child Ellen Mary.  Her daughter Ellen would end up living with her grandparents for approximately the first 10 years of her life.

Kate later married in Middlesex in 1918 to Fredrick H Watson, a cafe owner.  In 1922, she reunited with her daughter Ellen. It was not quite the happy family life that one might have hoped, as Kate had been greatly affected mentally by the tragic events that took place on the night of April 14, 1912.  Sources indicate that she never fully recovered from the long term effects of losing the love of her life and the ensuing struggle thereafter. Sadly, Kate Phillips became even more mentally unstable throughout the years. She eventually  became confined to bed until her death  in March of 1964.  Some of Titanic’s victims, like Kate, died a slow death of a broken heart.

Ellen Mary never really had much of a relationship with her mother.  In fact,  she didn’t even know that her mother passed away until months after her funeral. Ellen spent most of her life trying to prove that she was the illegitimate daughter of Henry Samuel Morley. Unfortunately her attempts to be recognised as Henry’s daughter never succeeded.  Ellen Mary died on October 25, 2005 at the age of 92.

This teddy bear was given to Ellen by her mother Kate Phillips in memory of her father, Henry Morley.

This bear meant a lot to Ellen and was given to her great-granddaughter Beverley Lynn Roberts upon her death. 

Photo Credit Beverley Lynn Roberts

 

 

Memories of Ellen Mary from her great-granddaughter, Beverley Lynn Roberts:  "I knew my Gran very well and she abandoned us as grandchildren when I was 12.  Like I said previously Gran cut her mother out of her life because she was unable due to a document she signed (so the Morley’s paid for her schooling under those conditions) to tell her who her Father was when my Dad was only a little boy and so was very bitter, so don’t believe all you read. I reconnected with my Gran when I was 23, My Gran was a very strong character.  I’ve heard many stories about Kate from other family members saying how kind she was.  But I did know my Gran very well. I will always be a fantastic mum to my daughter and try my best and give her all the love and support she needs.”

We asked Kate Phililps’s great-granddaughter, Beverley Lynn Roberts, if formal DNA testing was ever conducted to prove that Henry Morley was indeed Ellen Mary’s father.  Beverley indicated that it had not, but that she had personally submitted her own DNA to Ancestry and had received approximately 15 matches to Morley family members.  While this is not official or conclusive, it does seem to give credit to the assumption that Kate Phillips and Henry Morley did have a daughter together.  Perhaps Ellen Mary was truly the “heart of the ocean.”

Pictured left, great-granddaughter of Mary Kate Phillips, Beverley Lynn Roberts, & pictured right, Henry Morley's great-niece, Deborah Allen.

Photo Credit Beverley Lynn Roberts

 

 

Photo of Ellen Mary on her 90th Birthday.

Photo Credit Beverley Lynn Roberts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We would like to dedicate this article, not only to Kate Phillips, but also to her daughter Ellen Mary and great-granddaughter, Beverley Lynn Roberts, who has helped tremendously with supplying us with these amazing photos and fascinating information about her family.

Sources include Beverley Lynn Roberts, www.encyclopedia-titanica.org,  www.washigntontimes.com, https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/, and http://www.johnrichard.fast-page.org/titanic.html.